New Bedford native explores 'Stories of Fenway' in documentary

BOSTON — It was fate that threw Kyle Brasseur of New Bedford and Jake Ouellette of Sanford, Maine, together at Emerson College.

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By BILL ABRAMSON

southcoasttoday.com

By BILL ABRAMSON

Posted Feb. 15, 2013 at 12:01 AM

By BILL ABRAMSON

Posted Feb. 15, 2013 at 12:01 AM

» Social News

BOSTON — It was fate that threw Kyle Brasseur of New Bedford and Jake Ouellette of Sanford, Maine, together at Emerson College.

It was their love of baseball that resulted in the documentary, "Brick by Brick: Stories of Fenway," which will be aired on NESN Tuesday at 8 p.m. There will also be showings Wednesday, Thursday and March 1, with times to be announced.

"The first showing of the 22-minute program was in November when it was shown to the people who worked on it, the people interviewed for it and some Red Sox people," Brasseur said. "We did a lot of interviews, but not all of them are in the program. A lot of people were interviewed on the street outside Fenway where the background noise made it difficult to use."

Brasseur, a broadcast journalism major, used the skills he learned in class as he, and others at Emerson, did the interviews. He transcribed the material and worked on post production.

"The ballpark may be bricks and concrete, but it means a lot to people, who go back year after year," Brasseur said. "Chris Cameron, assistant general manager of the Portland Sea Dogs, got two tickets to a 2007 World Series game and he knew he had to take his father. There was a lot of that — sons and fathers — at Fenway."

Brasseur spent the summer of 2010, after graduating from New Bedford High, working with the New Bedford Bay Sox, running the scoreboard and filling in as the public address announcer. In a freshman class at Emerson, the professor asked everyone what their experiences were. Brasseur told of his Bay Sox work and Ouellette, sitting next to him, said he was the public address announcer for the Sanford Mainers.

"Our friendship developed from there," Brasseur explained. "Jake, Luke Fraser of Watertown, and I are all passionate about baseball."

The idea of doing the documentary began with Ouellette (business and fundraising) and Fraser (directing) in the fall of 2011, but took off when Brasseur (journalism) returned from the Netherlands, where he was studying for the fall semester. Kelsey Doherty (marketing) and Brady Darragh (editing) joined the group.

They wanted to do something big to celebrate Fenway Park, so, this group, working under the name of Red Seats Productions (for the seat in the right-field bleachers, commemorated as the landing point for Ted Williams' longest home run in Fenway history), concentrated on Fenway's history through the eyes of the fans.

"We came up with the idea and posted it online, asking if anyone wanted to be interviewed for their personal stories," Brasseur said. "John Henry's wife, Linda Pizzuti Henry, liked the idea. She put us in contact with people in the Red Sox organization and I sent out e-mails. I said we were a group of kids at Emerson College and would like your recollections of Fenway Park."

Brasseur's own Fenway journey began on a Sunday afternoon in April, 2010, against the Baltimore Orioles.

"As soon as I entered the park, just looking around, I got all goose bumps. Dustin Pedroia, my favorite player, hit a home run and the Red Sox won," he recalled.

His first Red Sox game was three years earlier on a family vacation to Washington, D.C., and a side trip to Camden Yards in Baltimore.

"Once we left the game, I thought, 'Wow, that was really cool.' I liked the things happening off the field. It made me want to look into the game — how it was played, situations," he said. "I didn't like sports before this game, but I fell in love with baseball instantly and it's evolved from there."